Tell you that I love you then I'll tear your world apart, just pretend I didn't tear your world apart

Everything is a bit topsy-turvy at the moment. I'm totally mood-bonkers so doing things is really hard but here is a blog because I have things to say! I've something to say, I've something to say! (She's something, she's something, she's something, she's something to say).

So I was trawling (not trolling) the internet and I came across something really pretty:

KNITE

I could possibly find out how to embed that into this blog but really go read it, it's beautiful. The style is fabulous and the story is going to make me cry by the end I can just tell! I almost have done twice, it's just so beautiful. I wish I could make things that wonderful. I hope that she releases a book format (the author already has a publisher and they're going to make an iPhone interactive book but I don't have an iPhone so I want to be able to buy a colour book). I <3 Sen because he is a dreamer and I have a soft spot for that type of person and Kai is so sweet and caring... just go read it now! It'll take you about 10 minutes to read/watch all 3 chapters and the bonus ones (there are links on each chapter page to the corresponding bonus and next chapter). I don't know when the next one is out but I want more now! *Impatient*

I've been playing Pokemon Black recently (Jona bought it for me but I guess I make up for it by buying Xbox360 games and letting him play them =p) and it's a bit weird but it's certainly pretty good. I've not played much because we're doing the collection of starters at the moment so I've only played just past the first gym but I can certainly give some thoughts. Firstly the girl character (over on the far left) you can be is a bit silly looking (seriously what is with all that hair?) and I'm almost tempted to play as a boy  (who looks kind of like a girl anyway) because of it and that never happens in games for me. But I'll probably play as a female in the end anyway... it's just a bit bothersome, superficial but bothersome =p. I've taken to some of the pokemon already actually. It's kind of like playing Red/Blue again for the first time because I don't know any of them properly yet. It's good fun =) 

Here are some more characters:

This is Cheren (I think... I call him Ishida because he's basically the same character hahahahahaha =D) and Bianca (also known as dense hooka or other negative terms). They're ok. Actually they have a lot of potential. One takes the pokemon strongest against you (shock! Like so many of the other games!) and the other takes the weaker (guess who is who ¬¬). Bianca is the ditz, they've really gone quite far on stereotyping there but she might have a possibly good story going on, I just haven't got far enough. Ishida is smarmy and reckons he knows everything and is all tactical and everything. Which sucks for him because I keep beating him =p.

Here is the main gripe actually... the bad guys ¬¬

These are the main bad guys I have met so far (excluding the mysterious N, because he's, at the moment, on neither side... although try not to look into it too far because there are some really obvious similarities going on if you look on the internet at certain people's pictures (digging a hole here ¬¬).

The original Team Rocket (from Pokemon Blue, Red, Yellow, Gold, Silver and possibly Crystal? and the remakes of those said games). I think they were only in those games but I haven't played the 3rd or 4th gen games. The people on the right are Team Plasma. They're... well... naff. Team R were out there causing mischief, trying to steal that one pikachu and trying to take over the world. So far Team P have told me that they are battling to free pokemon from their masters. It's a bit contradictory and they go around stealing pokemon but so far they just seem lame in comparison, Especially when you compare their bosses.

Ok ignore the bright orange 90's suit, or don't if you like orange, it was the best picture I could find from the anime, in some images he's wearing a black suit. Team R had Giovanni who seems to be based on the old school mafia style bosses. There is even a map in the background for him to world dominate with and he's drinking a whiskeyish looking drink! He was the cool bad guy. Then on the right we have Team P's Ghetis... I had to go look up that name. It's ridiculous. I do not care for these bad guys at all. They're no team rocket.

Technically neither were these guys, they were pretty anti Team Rocket but you gotta love them anyway =D (don't ask why Jesse's hair is purple... some of the anime screenshots are and some are red... I think it depends on the series... I just like their smiles).

Basically the game is good if you like pokemon, it's basically the same game but with different characters. It's cute, the music isn't that bad and the graphics are pretty good for a DS. It's not the best game ever, and it's not even the best pokemon game ever but it's good, so far =)

Ok enough of pokemon.

I've been listening to a lot of music since I last blogged so here are 6 reviews, I'll try and keep them relatively short =p

Ok... formatting is playing up and it won't let me do things how I want... rubbish.

Ah hah! Got it working again. Ok so this album was pretty good actually. She's shot up to fame pretty quickly and I was worried that I would get the overhype monster coming down and ruining it for me but no she's pretty good. A nice voice, a bit souly which makes a change for me. I really like Chasing Pavements (you know that really big his she had), Daydreamer, Melt My Heart To Stone and Hometown Glory. It's a pretty good album and worth a peek at if you have time. I'm certainly going to look into her second album. Actually I started listening to this one because a fellow G&Ser sang one of her songs at karaoke and it was amazing. Mostly because of the G&Ser but it piqued my interest.

 

The Airborne Toxic Event (self titled album) are unashamedly indie. It was the first thing I thought "my gosh how indie are you guys?" The album wasn't bad; it was uninsulting and I won't mind if the music comes on again when on shuffle. I won't immediately think to listen to them again though. If you like indie rock or pop you'll probably like these guys. I like their name though, that's really cute =3

Fave track: Sometime Around Midnight

Ok I mostly stopped listening to rawr rawr rawr music. I couldn't tell what they were saying and it was just a bit gratey on my ears. I tried to be an angry little goth teenager but ultimately I preferred pop and rock and wearing all black didn't really work for me (and I certainly couldn't be bothered with the make up part =p). BUT the point of the matter is is that I thought From Autumn To Ashes huh? This will be easy *hovers over the delete button*. But I was shocked. Ok I know that I like the thrack Autumn Monologue by them but Abandon Your Friends is a pretty decent album. There is still the shouty rawr in places but also pretty melodies. A couple of tracks were unlistenable but that might have been the rip. Most were actually pretty ok. They weren't deleted and I may have to actually listen to their other albums that I have by them. I may be pleasantly surprised by their music =)

 

I like DCfC. I knew that already. Plans is the album that I already knew some tracks from so I started with that one. Weirdly some of the tracks sound very Owl Cityish so clearly Mr Owl City man listened to them... or it is coincidence. But yeah wonderful album. This one has the wonderful tracks of; Someday You Will Be Loved, I Will Follow You Into The Dark, Marching Bands Of Manhattan and Crooked Teeth. Their alternative rock indie stuff and quite chilled. It was good times.

 

 Finally, I listened through all of the Kimya Dawson music I had. She's a bit of a wild card. Some of her tracks are borderline genius (in my opinion of course, I know some people who hate her full stop), and some of her other tracks are just beyond me. She's barmy, that's certainly something I can tell. I first heard her music on the Juno film (which is indie as hell and I love it so much!) and her tunes are catchy because they're very simple. They're also pretty repetitive but her songs are mostly for the lyrics. My favourite album is definitely Remember That I Love You.

Fave tracks from everything I have?:

RTILY

• Loose Lips
• I Like Giants
• I Miss You
• France
• 12/26

I'm Sorry That I'm Mean Sometimes

• Hold My Hand
• Everything's Alright

Juno OSTs

• Rollercoaster
• Sleep
• So Nice So Smart (blog title)
• All I Want Is You

 (both)

40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45

Ok that's all for now folks =)

Just remember that I love you

Buttercup xxx

What's in your wallet?

I love knowing about people. I love reading blogs by my friends so that I know just that little bit more about them. And something that I've always enjoyed looking at is the photos on flickr that people do of the contents of their bags. It's so interesting to see what people have on them on a regular basis. It's a bit like being allowed into a tiny part of their life. A glimpse into what they deem to be important when they aren't in their house.

So I've joined them:

Those are my bags. On the left is my camera bag which is now more often than not with me at all times and on the right is my favourite bag from River Island. It has lots of zips and is smaller than my rucksack so I carry less trash around with me =)

I think I might explain some of my items, just why I choose to carry around such stuff although most is self explanatory.

1. Book/DS. Normally I only carry one or the other unless I am staying out somewhere. The amount of bus travelling I do means I need to have something to distract me... or at least the option of something to distract. Sometimes I just enjoy thinking. I'm currently playing Pokemon Black in case you were wondering.
2. Camera. It's my old one. I took this photo (well a similar one) with that camera and had my Pentax one in the shot but it was so terrible looking I just had to have them this way round. I don't carry that camera very often anymore. I used to carry it everywhere but it's just not as good as Peregrin so I can only now use it at parties. Shame really... I used to think it was a fabulous camera.
3. Purse and card wallet. They grey rectangle with a Norwegian flag on it and the purple rectangle below it (because it might not be 100% clear). I kind of want a new purse. I've had that one for years. It's got a temporary tattoo of my name in Chinese stuck on it that I put on years and years ago. It's impressive how long it has lasted really. Even if I don't have my bag on me it is rare that I don't have those with me.
4. Dictaphone. The silver shiny thing. The uni lent it to me for recording my lectures so I nearly always have it on my anyway so I don't have to pack my bag for uni. I'll be giving it back soon though so it won't be there anymore shortly. Pretty nifty device though.
5. Phone. This is my second phone ever. My first was a Nokia 3510, wonderful thing. Lasted all through high school and sixth form. This one has lasted all through uni (4 years). It's very swish.
6. Tic Tacs. A slight addiction sometimes. I only ever buy the orange and lime ones, aside from when they were making orange and cherry :3 I don't like the taste of the mint ones but they do smell rather nice.
7. iPod and headphones. I just got the headphones recently and it's encouraged me to use my iPod again. I use it a lot to go to sleep (I have a mini speaker for that) but my headphones aren't very practical especially now my hair is pink. My skullcandy can headphones are white fluffy and my earclip on ones are white as well... I don't fancy having a very pale tie-dye pink on them. These in-ear rapey ones are fab though. It's good to have music again in my ears when I'm out.
8. Tissues, lipbalm, hand gel and moisturiser. The tissues are mostly because I've been hella ill recently but it's a good habit to get into. The lip balm changes on a regular basis. I was enjoying one I was given (a strawberry pot one) but I like to change things around and this one makes your lips all tingly like Carmex does. The hand gel is another habit to get into. Travelling around on public transport and then having food isn't the healthiest of things so I'm trying to be cleaner about that. Not OCD just less gross =p and the moisturiser is because I get really dry hands and when that happens I can't touch anything until I get some cream on them. It really sucks =(
9. Pens and notepad. So I can make notes whilst on the go. Often make small lists of things to do. It's mostly because I forget everything ever! Mini calanders don't help me very much because I forget to fill them in but a notepad is just useful.
10. Bus ticket. Because well... I get the bus most days out of a week. 
11. USB memory stick. It came from Northumbria uni because they were giving them out free but it is a useful stick... there is a lid for it somewhere...
12. Keys. I love my keyrings and I'm scared that I'll lose them some day but it would be rubbish to remove them purely for that reason. The frog I've had for years, since I was first given house keys. Mew was at most about 3 years ago. I bought it from a concert I attended. Gloomy bear was from Anth. I like having it there even though we aren't dating anymore.

That's the contents of my bag and a summary of the items. It's probably been dull to read but I find these things interesting so nyeh. I hope some of my friends also do this... although no doubt their bags will have waaaaaaaaaaay cooler and/or more interesting items in than I have. Who knows though.

I might do a proper blog at somepoint =p

Loves and hugs

Buttercup xxx

And I said don't bother you know we don't really love one another

So Japan is the main thing that people are thinking about right now. I'm not even going to try to give a comprehensive idea of what has been happening. BBC News is still playing things live on Japan but not continuously anymore (that link may or may not work later... I don't know how things work on there). All I really know is that there was a huge earthquake on Friday (two days ago) (8.9/9.0ish) with foreshocks (that I was not aware of) beforehand and aftershocks are still ongoing. There was a devastating tsunami that has ravaged the eastern coast. Currently 3 reactors in nuclear powerplants have warnings issued on them. Roughly 1,300 have died. If you want to find out more (although I think most people know that  basic information already) really use BBC News or another good news channel. NHK would be the best, being a Japanese channel but I don't know if they translate it into English.

I also have information of how things are from my good friend Anna-chan who is over in Japan this year. It's obviously worrying because there are scheduled powercuts so there are often periods of no news from her end, even though we know that she is safe. She's hopefully going to head south for a while with some friends which means it will be even safer =)

I hope things over there don't get any worse at all. This world seems to be going a little bonkers at the moment. Actually I find it hard to imagine what is happening. They show us videos of the different various things happening but it's hard to understand the scale. I can't imagine what a 30ft wave looks like. It just stumps me.

Some reviewage because it's what I do best.

So because I am ill I'm reading almost constantly, which is why I was able to read this one so quickly. It's the second book in the series (the first being Stray) and isn't bad. Strippers are going missing, strays are being killed and Faythe is yet again the one being targeted. The book isn't bad, it's not literary genius but it was good fun and I still find it interesting with the characters being werecats. Vincent had a tendency to reiterate things that we learnt in the first book about this idea, such as nudity being completely the norm between the siblings (they have to strip first before "shifting"). It is quite common for a series to do that but it is a tad bothersome. I've read the first book so I don't need the constant reminder. Hopefully it'll not happen in the third book. I quite like the series and would like to read more but if she keeps going over things again and again it'll get tiresome.

Ultimately if you like the paranormal genre and want a pretty easy read you will probably like this. It's first person from Faythe's perspective. She does like to try and create an overly "kick-ass" persona which is laughable in places but it's still a very good book. I'm just being overly critical. It was enjoyable =p

 

5/52

And another! This is the first of this series I have read and, as with most of the series by McCaffrey, it did not disappoint. It was another book I happily chose not to put down (it was a welcome distraction to coughing fits). The story follows a female alien who, as a very small child, was sent out from her spaceship in a pod, in hopes that she would survive. She is picked up by three miners who were drilling within a meteor field. It's rather like the beginnings of The Rowan but since I liked that book as well, I didn't mind. In fact thinking about it the opening idea is basically the same. It's completely different where they take it.

I found it beautifully written and very much in the style of McCaffrey. The way she links people together within the stories is well done. How they react to each other and show affection, especially the way the miners find Acorna like their child or niece, is just wonderfully built.

I'm hoping that the next three books that I own from the series will be just as enthralling. There are seven in total so far, not including three books of a secondary series, and if I enjoy these first four then I will just have to pick up the others asap. I like to read McCaffrey's books in quick succession with the plots swimming through my head. It's a beautiful work of sci-fi and fantasy. I'm never sure what genre to put some of her works under. Yes it's set in space but heck, there is a unicorn girl as one of the main characters, that's pretty big fantasy ideas there =p. No it's more sci-fi and would be classes as that, I know, but unicorns! It's not furry either, it's wonderfully idealised anthro work. But I ramble. Basically, lovely story that is set in space with a unicorn girl. Genre doesn't really matter =)

6/52 (I might catch up after all!)

I picked up this album (Norah Jones: Feels Like Home) recently from a charity shop and it wasn't bad. She has a wonderfully soft tone. Acousticy, alternativey, bluesy, country..y =p she's interesting although her music does start to sounds a bit samey, possibly because all of her music is rather slow. She is good to chillout to though, good for background ambience. It's inoffensive but not really a shining star of an album. Certainly pretty though =)

38/100

I just picked up Noah And The Whale: Peaceful The World Lays Me Down and it's rather good. It's very much like Zoey Van Goey and that area of music who/that I enjoy to listen to. It's acousticy and pretty and has a couple of pretty bouncy tracks. It's well worth a listen and the popular track 5 Years Time is really nice (it's the track that I first heard). My favourite tracks are: 2 Atoms In A Molecule, Second Lover, 5 Years Time, Peaceful The World Lays Me Down and Mary. I also have two tracks that are not on the album that are really good, if you fancy looking into these guys; Beating and 2 Bodies 1 Heart. It's well worth a listen.

39/100

That's pretty much it. I haven't been doing much recently simply from being ill. Hopefully things in Japan won't get too much worse. 

Love to all of you out there, stay safe

Buttercup xxxxx

To influence a person is to give him one's own soul.

There isn't really much I want at the moment. I'm having a weird phase where I can look at lots of things and think "my those would be nice to have" and then close the tab that they are in. It's a restless sort of mood. I want to buy things but I just don't really care to buy them and then try to find space for them... saying that though I have ordered a ps1 dance mat game and a CD by Noah and the Whale (not the new one just released this week though... their first one). It is a fickle mood but there are a few things at present (mostly non material) that I want.

When will it end?

I, like many others of my generation grouping, have fond memories of pokemon. We played the gameboy games, we watched the cartoon/anime and we collected the cards. Most of these people have grown up now and consider it nothing more than a memory but I kind of still really like pokemon. Granted I am much more intune with the first 251 pokemon than the later releases but I still have some that I like in those later ones (see right: Plusle and Minun... so cute =3). Really the point is is that I would like to complete the first 151 cards... just one of each one, not even of each type (so I wouldn't want a base deck and a jungle version just either or (sorry if this is way over your head for some people... I'll stop my pokenerdery soon I promise!)) I'm only missing about 10 from the 151 set... I would collect up to 251 but I don't have many from the later 100 and I have almost none from the ones after that. It would just be nice... I like collecting things and these at least take up very little space.

 It was the best I could find as a picture!

I'm pretty ill right now. I've had a sore throat (red) for over a week and now have a terrible cough (yellow)... like really bad. I would rather like to be not ill... although a lot of people are ill right now and so I would like everyone to be not ill. A bit like wishing for world peace. I just don't want it to be a throat infection because I don't really want to have to take more medication and also I hate not singing... and if I start singing (like I did last night a bit ¬¬ whoops) then I tend to ruin my voice for a couple of years. Although that cold virus is reeeeeeeeeeeally cute =) They have other viruses on there but I quite like the yogurt and the red blood cell =) TB is also pretty cute as it is bright green. They're wonderful, I would buy lots of them.

www.thinkgeek.com is an amazing site though.

Ok so it has been a lot sunnier recently but I want it to be warm. I'm such a wuss and even though I prefer the colder months because there are no insects it's be a pretty long and cold winter. Fewer illnesses as well =)

Here comes the sun doo de doo de =D

The G&S crew had a karaoke night and Ralph sang that... I only know the one line though... here comes the suuun =D I sang Don't Marry Her by The Beautiful South and slipped in a few cheeky curse words that are in the album version of the song. We all had a cracking evening. I really love karaoke with them. (they are all so much cooler than I am =p).

Question: Where do those really tiny flies come from? The ones that are generally found around computer monitors? The really teeny weeny annoying things... I've never known how they get in my room... they just are there sometimes.

OMG I FINISHED A BOOK!

As you can probably read it was The Picture Of Dorian Gray. I felt rather intellectual reading it. I get that with books that are considered literary classics. It's like... these books have been considered of a high enough caliber to be in a special club and I'm reading one. They're normally too hard for me to read but this one was quite good actually. I had seen the recent film with that pretty male playing Dorian... Ben Barnes. He has a bit of a butt chin going on but he isn't unpleasant to look at.(image below). The book was quite fun to read, the ideas that Sir Henry Wotton brought up were rather interesting to note. As a social discussion it was very interesting. For those not in the know, Dorian Gray starts out life as a very pretty boy who is the muse of Basil Hallward, an artist, and meets HW whilst sitting for a painting. He is very innocent and seems to be charmed by everything around him. HW finds him fascinating and in a discussion very early on he tells Dorian that he is to make the most of his youth and beauty for they will not last long.

On seeing his finished portrait Dorian, in a fit of rage and sorrow, curses it so that it may age and he does not. He bargains his soul for this (kind of unintentionally, mind). The story pretty much tells you of how HW's influence on Dorian and the search for pleasure damages his soul.

All in all it was a very pleasant read and now I am back to reading urban fantasy =p

Something that was amusing was that whilst reading it the language that I was using was rather influenced in a day to day basis. I get that a lot and it amuses me. At one point I was highly overdramatic and saying things like "I am the most miserable today, I do not know how I shall ever cope!" *places hand on forehead and swoons*

=D

4/100... I'm so behind =\

Love you all  Buttercup xxx

How is this an RPG anyway?

So I've spent a lot of time on the internet recently and there are some thoughts to share so let's get the ball rolling with a video.

=D This is the one *taps hands on table*

Ok to explain. This is a flash video based on a review of a flash game called Super PSTW (Press Space To Win). Now this was something I was discussing today with HazyShade. The problems with grammar/spelling and extended topics. How correct do you think people have to be with grammar and spelling? I understand things like shops and dvds should be named correctly (unless there is an oh so witty pun happening and thus the "error" is deliberate) but what about when people post on the internet? I mean this guy has some pretty bad spelling but mostly the review was understandable. He was grumpy because he didn't like the game. What about small errors like not being able to spell words like necesary and ok I can't think of more words right now... but the point is, you know what I have written even though it is spelt wrongly. Is that ok? Is being able to understand what has been written without it being a major challenge ok? Or should we be trying to regain the perfect English that some believe we should have.

The spell check has destroyed people's need to understand spelling and grammar. I do think that people should have at least a basic knowledge of things but I've never really been effected by poor S&G (the other way round makes the initials of a delightful operetta writing duo that I know of =p) aside from when it's really bad, on official things and when someone has written something that I disagree with and I think that they are wrong and then I can laugh at them for that.

I have a lecturer that refuses to capitalise his name or the letter i when writing. Should he change that just because he is a lecturer? He understands the rules (at least I presume so) but he chooses not to use them. A well known academic writer has the name bell hooks [sic] and you would be wrong to capitalise.

So I wonder where the line should be drawn. I think I'm ok with typos (I do them often enough), and mistakes so long as it doesn't detract from the text. I think it is annoying when people choose to write solely in txt spk but that is mostly because I don't really understand much of it. It's the same as L337. It's fine in small doses and to the right people but overkill can be horrendous. Classrooms should enforce correct use of language simply because you are there to learn how to do this stuff but out on the internet? It's less important really. In the grand scheme of things.

I know a person who once said to me (when I was talking about how correctly they (technically incorrect grammatically) were using English on msn): If I am not going to take the time to write it properly then it wasn't worth saying to begin with.

I totally get that. I understand that concept and in general I agree with it. I used to never capitalise the letter I on forum posts because I was lazy and Word autocorrects but now I do. I made a conscious effort to change how I write because I wanted to be more correct when I typed but I don't believe that choosing not to is a sign of a lower intellect. It can be but isn't always the case.

Ok so that was pretty intensive for me... here's a picture!

It's a picture of the moon tonight  =3

Another internet related topic but more just a question and then rant.

Who actually makes spam emails?

I mean I get the ones where they ask for your bank details because you have "won $10000000" or because some bloke has died in a far away country and has decided to leave you all his wealth. I get people making those because out of the millions of emails they send out one person will probably give them the details because they are naive. But the ones that want me to join some dating website? Facebook or fuckbook? Wait what? You aren't even getting anything out of me going there. The most that you are giving me is a virus which isn't really going to do much because most people have an active virus killer on their computer. So where is the motive? Why do people do it?

I also almost understand the one that I keep being sent by "Blizzard" for my account details because I am changing my password or I have been accessing my account wrongly so ooh maybe someone is trying to hack my account! Oh no! I guess that would actually work if I had an account with Blizzard. I don't because that would mean I have an account with WOW and I don't play that "game" =p. (Actually I'm sure it is an enjoyable game and that I would enjoy playing it a lot and that is the problem. You have to pay monthly and that would be too costly for me. I would rather play free MMORPGS or just offline games. I might try one once when I have a source of income but not right now).

Are the spam emails that I sometimes get that make no sense from bots? Is that why they don't make sense because someone isn't actually making them happen? They are just a piece of code that sweeps the internet for your email address and then sends you rubbish about viagra, penises and porn? It doesn't help that I don't understand people sometimes.

Not my own image: Apple blossoms

So it was almost Spring today. The sun was shining but it was still a bit chilly. I had genuinely forgotten what it was like to be sunny. I had thoughts of summer times, riding my bike to the beach, picnics, suntan lotion. Everything came to me today. It was divine. I tend to forget what the other side of the year feels like. I want to walk around with my hoodies unzipped or even *gasp* around my waist! I am looking forward to summer. Anna-chan comes home and Elendil moves up here. I want a summer like I used to have, but way more! Seeing friends more than I should want to (=p), adventures galore, evenings with films, gaming and conversations, relaxing in the sun with someone playing guitar in case we want to have a singalong, butterflies, sand, staying awake until the stars come out and until they go to bed again with whispers and foreheads pressed together, barefeet, daisy chains, The Green Festival, icecubes in my drink, swimming, summer rain, going out dancing and not needing a hoody for outside, wearing skirts and dresses, sitting in the shade of a huge tree, feeding ducks, boating, photos, smiles, laughs, painting nails, sunglasses.

I want to be moved into a new house by then. I want to be able to chill out without worrying about contacting my parents to let them know where I am and when I will be back. I want to be able to walk from my friends' houses back to mine without worrying about if I have missed the last bus or getting a taxi. I want to be able to have friends round without needing to warn my parents in advance. I want to be able to play loud music during the day without feeling too guilty (although I would check with my housemates first!). I want to be able to choose my own meals in the evening, having rice and pasta salads and awesome meals with the people I am going to live with. I want to be able to say "hey just pop over to mine!" without feeling guilty that they have to get a bus there first. I want to bake fairycakes and cookies and not worry about if the oven is needed then or that it is 11pm and I just fancied doing it then. I want to go out clubbing and then at 3am stumble back home, with good friends, feeling a little bit more than tipsy to my own bed.

I just want to live dammit! Won't you let me live?!

XD

Love you all, Buttercup xxx

Come on, let go of the remote; don’t you know you’re letting all the junk flood in?

I dyed my hair yesterday (finally)... =D
For any readers outside my facebook friends... here is the colour =D gorgey no?  It's darker at the top where my natural hair has grown in and lighter where there is the last remains of a previous bleaching times... but it's pretty *is happy*

Hello

So I forgot to wishlist yesterday... whoops. It genuinely slipped my mind.

So here for one (hopefully) week only!

TRAVELLING THURSDAY!

 Fair Parieeeee

First place I would like to go. It's a standard I know but there is something rather classy about it, at least in my mind. They have art and landmarks. I'd have to brush up on my very poor French though, although apparently they all speak English there anyway =p

Norway =D

Look how beautiful it is! It would be simply marvelous to trek a little over there. Just gorgeous! I'd probably go on a cruise across to there and pray that I don't get seasick! At least the first time I would.

Not just another cruise!

Nope this isn't for the travelling, for the different scenery or for anything aside from music! This is a photo taken from The Rock Boat that is, from what I hear, a five day cruise with almost non stop gigs played. Sister Hazel (they host it =D) play there every year and are often accompanied by; Aslyn, Carbon Leaf, Vertical Horizon, Tonic, Ingram Hill, Better Than Ezra and other such wonderful acoustic/alternative rock. It sets sail from Florida and has a different destination every year. I really really want to go, I'm hoping to save up enough money to make it next year (this year's one is this month ¬¬)

Mmmm snow =3 (altered photo because of possible broken linkage)

Ok last one, and it's another stereotype. I want to go visit New York. Specifically New York in winter. I want to see their Christmas lights, the snow in Central Park (picture) everything! It's just one of those places I've wanted to go for a long time. Apparently it's also really awesome at Halloween with the Halloween Parades they have there, they're huge!

Ok so enough of me drooling over pretty places that I want to go to and a review of a different kind!

Yes be shocked! L-R Chie, you (in my case Reki Xi) and Yosuke (BROsuke =p).

So I've started playing Persona 4. It's a Squarenix and Atlus game. Ah, Squenix you say! The Final Fantasy people! Yes, in short, but it is a series I haven't heard much about before. I've about 5 hours in and if you fancy playing this game I can give you the important beginning overview that is very important if you fancy playing this game.

The first 3-4 hours are almost completely interactive cutscenes.

Ok, that doesn't sound too good now does it? SE have an issue with making games that has become rather apparently since they started working in the FFX era of games (PS2+). They really really seem to want to make films instead of games. Films, animes etc. It's a small issue if you are a casual gamer like me. I'm ok with the fact they aren't doing too well in the gaming aspect of their games because everything else makes up for it but if you really like it to be a game and are ok with losing some of the really good story elements then this games is not for you. At all!

Interactive cutscene: it's in game graphics and you are having conversations with the character's (you choose their name so mine is a slightly unmanly Reki Xi) friends and associates. It's great for detailing plot but bad if you are looking to get straight into the action.

Simple opening plot? You have moved from a city to the small town Inaba where you are staying with your uncle, a detective, and his small daughter, who seems to do all the housework and shopping... it's a bit weird. You make friends with some of your new classmates and a rumour goes around about something called "The Midnight Channel". There are also some weird murders going on.

I don't want to give too much away, if you don't care to play it but wish to know more read wiki pages or something. If you want to play it go get it.

Aside from the interactive cutscenes, that I forgave because the plot is really immersive and interesting, there is one other aspect that some people may not enjoy. You join a school club (two if you are me and trying to balance everything at once) and get a job (which often provides money) and you have to increase your stats through interactions in these tasks. Knowledge, expression, courage, diligence, understanding. If these are two low then certain things are not available to you like conversations and other jobs. Everything takes time and you have to do people saving whilst balancing an average high schooler life. You can only do one activity in the hours after school and one activity (aside from checking the weather) in the evening that can be done at home or are a job. It seems like it will be a hard time getting the balance right, especially when people are telling you that you have a club to attend on the same day as another club that has also just told you that you should attend... but it's creating a different game style to the standard RPG style. I enjoy trying to make my characters better in these things so I'm really enjoying it, but it is another aspect that people should be wary about when starting this game.

I can see that I shall really enjoy this game, the characters are nice and not at all annoying. Everything seems to have a level of depth that is unusual in a lot of games now. There is humour especially at the beginning.

-He seems hurt

-You should leave him be

*walks off quickly*

The soundtrack is pretty funky, mostly being Japanese style pop and rock but with some interesting incidental scoring too. Graphics are mostly 3D anime with cut scenes being completely anime (the really pretty kind).

It's dark but still has wonderfully bright colours.

It sure is worth a look in if you know someone who owns a copy (thank you again Danzel) or if you can pick it up cheaply. It's also worth a look if you already like the Squenix games because really it is very SE. Just be forgiving whilst you wait for the game to let you play it.

I'll let you know how I get on with it =) but no spoilers ^_0

Love from Buttercup xxx

Crimson and clover over and over, sing me something that I know, I wanna fall in love tonight.

Another slight gap in my blogging but for good reasons!

Last Wednesday-Saturday I was performing in my G&S show (the Wednesday was a dress rehearsal) and that has made me very tired. The show was really good. There were a few slip ups as there always are in shows but nothing major. On the last night the audience was amazing, laughing at everything and applauding wonderfully, our energy was really high and timings were good. This was quite a feat since a couple of weeks before the show we were a shambles. The Grand Duke was quite a hard choice I think because very few, if any, of us knew the show before this academic year. Doing a show that no one in the cast really knows is quite hard work. Much more learning is needed to be able to perform at any level and there is less enthusiasm in the songs as would be normally.

Really I only started liking the show a few weeks before we performed it and I especially only started loving my bit-part Supernumary role once we were on the stage properly. In fact that was the most fun I have ever had on stage because I was just being me. I was able to be fidgety and silly and that was my role. I will miss that scene now that I love it, but isn't that always the way.

I normally start enjoying the show from much earlier on but this year was harder and I think it was because I knew very little of it. I knew some of the songs from a previous summer show (but not with the same words) but I didn't feel like I had enough to hold onto until late in the proceedings. It was good in the end though and that is always the most important thing. I'm very much looking forward to performing HMS Pinafore in summer as part of the orchestra and as a sailor. It should be good fun.

We had an aftershow party. This was good fun. I got very very very drunk. After I had been given two cherry VKs that I drank simultaneously we proceeded to one of the cast member's house (my grammar is terrible here... sorry). I then had 4 sourz shots. That was the extent of my alcohol intake. I am a lightweight but I was more drunk than I had been in a while and this impaired my judgement. I chose, truly believing this to be the correct decision, to not take my medication that evening. Biggest error ever. I slept for an hour (6am-7am roughly), had my first ever hangover feelings (mostly that I was going to vomit everywhere), continued to be miserable all day and finished it off with breaking down by the end of it. So in conclusion I made the discovery that if I skip my medication for one day I feel really really bad. Worse that I ever remember it feeling. I have had the discussion with people that I don't like not feeling anything, that having all my emotions deadened is horrible and that I wish I didn't have to take these tablets but after that I don't think that way.

There were also almost constant panic attacks. That was pretty nasty too. Genuinely felt broken.

Basic message of this... take your drugs like a good person. Seriously bad times occurred.

I still feel pretty ill but I think that is a different reason. My throat feels heavy. It's probably a cold. ¬¬

Sooo... that was relatively heavy topicings for my usual happy go lucky blog but I believe that it is important to mention things like that. Let's see if I can't brighten it up though.

I still haven't dyed my hair yet... although I am totally all of the tempted to do it tonight.

Jimmy Eat World:Bleed American/Jimmy Eat World

Ok so a new review because it is about time that I did another one. This is possibly my favourite (along with a whole load of other people) by JEW but there is some confusion here. For a while this album was known as Jimmy Eat World and not Bleed American... one minute, wiki! Tell me why! Ok after the 9/11 attacks in America it changed to being JEW instead of BA and then in 2008 when it was rereleased it was reverted back to BA. Complicated I know but I can see their reasoning for changing it in the first place (I have the JEW titling in my collection in case you were wondering). The problem with changing it to JEW is that there was already an album and an ep under that name and it must have been a bit complicated when talking about it. You could mean any of these things and not made any sense. So on my iTunes it's under BA/JEW to cover all bases =D

Just some storyage there for you.

This album is beautiful. Punk pop. Brilliant lyrics. I don't think I have a single track on here that I don't like. It's a brilliant album. I haven't listened to it in a couple of years and I am being reminded of how wonderful JEW are. I might sit and review all their albums (not including their really early stuff because the quality isn't very good =p). I'll have to pick up their latest, 2010 release, at some point.

1. Bleed American/Salt Sweat Sugar: I'm not crazy because I take the right pills everyday

2. A Praise Chorus: (blog title)Where's it going to get you acting serious?

3.The Middle: Live right now / Just be yourself / It doesn't matter if that's good enough for someone else

4. Your House:

5. Sweetness: This sweetness will not be concerned with me

6. Hear You Me: If you were with me tonight / I'd sing to you just one more time

7. If You Don't, Don't: Someday maybe / maybe someday we'll be smarter / I'm sorry that I'm such a mess

8. Get It Faster: I want to do right by you / But I'm finding out cheating gets it faster

9. Cautioners: You'll change your mind come Monday / And turn you back on me / Take your steps away with hesitance / Take your steps away from me

10. The Authority Song: Tell me, I'm not scared anymore / Say anything you want

11. My Sundown: I could be so much more than this / Said my goodbyes // You'll take your time / But no one cares / lovely time, tinsel shine

See... beautiful lyrics. Just go find them on the youtubes and listen to them. Go and research and hear how lovely they are. The words can only give you so much. Hear the music to them. Listening to them now is like falling in love with them all over again.

37/100

There may be another post with more of their albums reviewed =D as it is I'm just going to put this album on shuffle and repeat and enjoy =D

Love from Buttercup xxx